84 Table 1b. Characteristics of patients with HNC for salivary flow measures Characteristics M0 (n = 45) M3 (n = 65) M6 (n = 57) Repeated measurements M0, M3 and M6 (n = 20) Age (median, IQR) 61.8 (16.0) 63.2 (15.0) 62.1 (13.5) 64.0 (11.0) Sex Male 34 (75.6%) 55 (84.6%) 45 (78.9%) 15 (75.0%) Female 11 (24.4%) 10 (15.4%) 12 (21.1%) 5 (25.0%) Tumor site Oropharynx 14 (31.1%) 26 (40.0%) 23 (40.4%) 6 (30.0%) Larynx 15 (33.3%) 18 (27.7%) 14 (24.6%) 6 (30.0%) Oral cavity 11 (24.4%) 16 (24.6%) 16 (28.1%) 6 (30.0%) Hypopharynx 1 (2.2%) 0 (0.0%) 1 (1.8%) 0 (0.0%) Unknown primary 4 (8.9%) 5 (7.7%) 3 (5.3%) 2 (10.0%) Tumor Stage I 16 (35.6%) 16 (24.6%) 15 (26.3%) 6 (30.0%) II 8 (17.8%) 15 (23.1%) 12 (21.1%) 3 (15.0%) III 3 (6.7%) 7 (10.8%) 5 (8.8%) 2 (10.0%) IV 18 (40.0%) 27 (41.5%) 25 (43.9%) 9 (45.0%) Primary Treatment RT 21 (46.7%) 31 (47.7%) 24 (42.1%) 8 (40.0%) CRT 12 (26.7%) 17 (26.2%) 16 (28.1%) 7 (35.0%) Surgery 8 (17.8%) 12 (18.5%) 10 (17.5%) 4 (20.0%) Surgery with PO(C)RT 4 (8.9%) 5 (7.7%) 7 (12.3%) 1 (5.0%) M0: before treatment, M3: 3 months after treatment, M6: 6 months after treatment CRT: Chemoradiotherapy, IQR: Interquartile Range, PO(C)RT: Post-Operative (Chemo) Radiation, RT: Radiotherapy WST versus PROs The association between the PROs and the WST was calculated for both the number of swallows and swallowing duration (Table 3). The association between the number of swallows and subscales of the EORTC QLQ-H&N35 showed no significant correlations at M0, M3, and M6. The association between the number of swallows and subscales of the SWALQOL showed no significant correlations at M0 and M3. Weak significant correlations were found at M6 for the item total SWAL-QOL score (Spearman’s ρ=0.335, p=0.001). The association between swallowing duration and subscales of the EORTC QLQ-H&N35 showed no significant correlations at M0, M3 and M6. The association between duration and subscales of the SWAL-QOL showed no significant correlations at M0. At M3, weak significant correlations were found for the items food selection (Spearman’s ρ=0.332, p=0.001) and total SWAL-QOL score (Spearman’s ρ=0.353, p=0.001). At M6, weak
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